Born in Rouen, Normandy in the time of the Ancien Regime. He was taught music at the cathedral by the organist . He managed to maintain his studies and musical development through the Revolution and Reign of Terror.
With worst of it over, Boieldieu moved to Paris where he initially worked as a piano tuner. However in the 1790s as he started composing opera he found a ready audience for his work in Paris. His work transformed the style of opera (and also the finances) of the Opera Comique.
He married a famous opera singer of his day, Thérèse Regnault.
In 1804 he accepted a commission to be court composer to the Tsar Nicholas II in St Petersburg. He stayed for 6 years, returning to Paris in 1810, perhaps wisely given Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812!
He was made a professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1820 and received the Légion d'honneur in the same year.
After the bankruptcy of the Opera Comique he was a warded a state pension of 6,000 francs in recognition of his contribution to French music.
When he died his heart was buried in the Cathedral at Rouen.
Highly regarded in his day his operas are rarely performed now and his keyboard works are even rarer.